Is it insecure to display the number of characters when users enter a new passphrase?

When users are entering a new passphrase somewhere, it’s helpful to provide feedback on the number of characters received by the system.
In a user experience (UX) test I just ran, my user created a passphrase in her password manager, and t… Continue reading Is it insecure to display the number of characters when users enter a new passphrase?

Why should we only keep the private key secret, why not the public key?

If I am not wrong, both private key and public key are the same since communication is possible only if both keys are matching. So, why we should only keep the private key secret, why not public key? When I generate a key by ssh-keygen com… Continue reading Why should we only keep the private key secret, why not the public key?

Does knowing part of a passphrase for sure really mean that you can "disregard" that entire part when trying to crack it?

Alice bought 1 Bitcoin and encrypted her wallet.dat in Bitcoin Core.
Samantha, Alice’s friend, notices the Bitcoin price skyrocketing and, while Alice is in the bathroom, steals Alice’s wallet.dat as well as important.txt and goes home.
Th… Continue reading Does knowing part of a passphrase for sure really mean that you can "disregard" that entire part when trying to crack it?

Randomly selected words converted into sentence. Did I lose passphrase strength or gain it?

I got 5 dice and opened EFF’s wordlist, and generated a random five-word passphrase (all letters small with spaces, no punctuation) for my PC.
The words were making up a meaningful scene in my mind, so I made a complete sentence out of the… Continue reading Randomly selected words converted into sentence. Did I lose passphrase strength or gain it?